Work horse

What a week! I have been at work every single day this week, and I'm exhausted.

Monday I was put in charge because the core charge nurse called in sick. Craziness. We were well-staffed, but 2W was trying to steal one of our nurses so that they could take a post-op, and 4W was trying to sneak one of their patients in. Plus, we had a lot of preceptees. Insane. Luckily, I had Tso as my team leader, and she helped get people out on breaks and was able to coordinate patients travelling to procedures so that we didn't fall behind.

Tuesday I was scheduled to be in charge. Again with the craziness. No CNIII's ,since they were all at the meeting, so I had an interesting mix of new and moderate RN's. The 4W patient hadn't even been started on chemo, which was the reason she was sent to us. We had 6 patients travelling to MRI, CT, fluoro and dialysis. SaSo was the team leader, but she'd never even responded to a trauma page. I went with her the first time and showed her the ropes. I think we had a combined number of six trauma pages. Ridiculous. At least all of them looked good and didn't need to come to the PICU.

I forewent going to Paladino's on Tuesday night, eventhough I really wanted to see the old crowd.

Wednesday I went to CCRN review class for the cardic and respiratory content. Many good lectures. The cardiac defect and staged repair lecture was good ... the first one on this topic that I've really fully understood. It's just so far from my regular practice, since those patients all go to 2W. FK also gave a superb respiratory lecture. She wears so many hats ... respiratory therapist, RN, and recently passed the CCRN. A very good day.

Thursday I precepted EC again ... our last day for a couple months. We didn't get a pair, but were able to focus on a mildly critical patient, and she did fairly well. EC will be on nights for a couple months before she returns for her last stretch. I like her, and like precepting her, but it is tiring.

Thursday evening I went to Lindy Groove. Maybe I shouldn't have. But sometimes a little dance therapy is needed. Plus, I'd already skipped out on Tuesday.

Friday I again woke up early and went in for the CCRN practice test. Two years ago, when I took the full review course, I freaked out because I felt so unprepared. This time, eventhough I'd missed half of the review session, I passed with a few questions to spare. What a relief. I'm going to continue studying hard, but it's a huge relief to know that I'm on solid ground. Also, since this is a scored test, I'm shooting for top 10th percentile. We'll see.

There was a Do Something Blue event tonight, but I was so worn out that I skipped that too. Really, I hope to never have another week like this past one.